


Courage Like A Rock

by Missy_dee811



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Coping, Crying, F/M, Flashbacks, Grief/Mourning, I Made Myself Cry, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Inspired by Poetry, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Loss of Parent(s), Male-Female Friendship, Mother's Day, POV Pepper Potts, Parent Death, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Parenthood, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Feels, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Protective Pepper Potts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 08:52:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18807838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy_dee811/pseuds/Missy_dee811
Summary: *Avengers: Endgame spoilers*Pepper and Morgan adjust to life after the fact.





	Courage Like A Rock

**Author's Note:**

> The courage that my mother had  
> Went with her, and is with her still:  
> Rock from New England quarried;  
> Now granite in a granite hill.
> 
> The golden brooch my mother wore  
> She left behind for me to wear;  
> I have no thing I treasure more:  
> Yet, it is something I could spare.
> 
> Oh, if instead she’d left to me  
> The thing she took into the grave!—  
> That courage like a rock, which she  
> Has no more need of, and I have.
> 
> ― Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Are you ready, sweetie?”

“Yes, Mommy,” said Morgan, walking up to her mother.

She looked around, and then, at her mother. She seemed lost in thought. Pepper waited patiently, knowing she would speak when she was ready. She was much like her father, in that regard. Tony would often lose himself in his thoughts and blurt out something profound seemingly out of the blue, but Pepper knew it wasn’t random. It was his way of starting a conversation, of creating a dialogue.

She missed their talks.

Morgan tugged on her dress. “Can I bring something of Daddy’s?”

Pepper nodded, not trusting her voice.

She looked down at her phone in her hands. There was an incoming call. “We’ll be right out, and thank you, again.”

“Uncle Happy is outside waiting for us. Whatever you’re going to get, go get it now,” she said.

Morgan nodded and ran off. Pepper followed her footsteps up to her room.

When Pepper had called him, a few nights prior, he had said yes almost immediately.

_“Will you be okay?” He had asked._

_Pepper had nodded, and clearing her throat, she said, “I’ll be alright.”_

 

Pepper did what she could. She and Morgan spent most of their time together. It was harder now than it had been. She was never alone. She could never keep her eyes off her.

In those first few days, Morgan brought her immense comfort. They slept in the same bed so Pepper wouldn’t wake up alone.

_“Mommy are we having a sleepover?”_

_“Yes, baby.” She looked at the time. It was still early enough._

_“Do you want to watch a movie,” she asked._

_Morgan nodded._

_“Which movie do you want to watch?”_

_“The time travel one.”_

_“Which one,” asked Pepper. “There are a lot of time travel movies.”_

_“The one daddy liked.”_

_“Daddy liked a lot of time travel movies,” she said, standing from the bed, and walking over to the TV. She started rummaging through their movie collection._

_Morgan crawled across the bed and sat on the edge._

_“The one with the boy who meets his parents.”_

_“Ah, Back to the Future. Daddy really liked that one.”_

_Morgan sat in silence, lost in thought. “He said the science was wrong.”_

_“He would say that; doesn’t mean he didn’t like it.”_

_“We watched it a lot.”_

_“Oh, did you now? Is that what you were doing in the study? Watching movies while daddy and FRIDAY worked.”_

_Morgan nodded. Pepper carried her back to the bed. Fluffing her pillow and telling her to lean back, she pushed her hair out of her face, and kissed her forehead._

_“Mommy,” said Morgan as Pepper was about to play the movie, “I miss daddy.”_

_Pepper reached for her hand. “I miss him, too.”_

 

It was easier some days. They’d go about their routine and Morgan would mention Tony, would ask about where he was, what he could be doing, and if he missed them. Pepper had always considered what would happen to them in the event of his passing. He had been Iron Man too long for her not to have considered the possibility, but it didn’t make it any easier.

She knew she wasn’t alone, but on days when she and Morgan were cooking, and Morgan would still set the table for three, it hurt more than she could ever say.

Each time she had to remind her, each time she had to break the news, something new broke inside her.

_“Daddy’s not here anymore,” said Pepper putting away the plate and utensils she had placed imperfectly on the table. She was still learning._

_Morgan looked away._

_“Hey, hey. None of that.”_

_Pepper crouched in front of her and pushed her hair behind her ear. “I know it’s hard. I do. He loved you very, very much, and he wouldn’t want you to be sad.”_

_“Can we make ice pops? Daddy used to make them with me.”_

_Pepper smirked. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, but yes. We’ll make ice pops after lunch and they might be ready after dinner.”_

 

Happy and Rhodey came by often to check in and spend some time with Morgan.

She reminded them of Tony. Her mannerisms, the way she’d joke, and her deep love of certain foods reminded them of Tony.

_“If you don’t watch her, she’ll have high cholesterol from all those cheeseburgers,” said Rhodey, one afternoon while the three of them sat on the porch._

_He had brought them lunch; which Morgan happily ate while coloring._

_“If only because you and Happy keep bringing her cheeseburgers.”_

_“She asked nicely,” said Rhodey._

_“She’s five! She knows asking nicely is half the battle,” said Pepper. “Next time bring her something else.”_

_“Blueberries,” said Rhodey, laughing._

_Pepper laughed too. “Blueberries are fine. She likes those too.”_

_He poured them more lemonade and offered Morgan some._

_“After coloring,” she said, not bothering to look up._

_“I color with her too,” said Pepper, keeping Morgan’s cup next to hers. “They have all these coloring books. She insists on the ones with all the Avengers. She loves the team. More than her father.”_

_“She loves the team because of her father,” said Rhodey, watching his goddaughter color in War Machine._

_“He’s not purple,” he whispered to Pepper, who shrugged._

_They drank lemonade in companionable silence. After some time, Pepper asked, “How is everyone?”._

_“Fine. Getting by. There’s so much to do, what with half the universe back from non-existence.”_

_“I can only imagine. All those parents who thought they’d lost their sons and daughters, who had started to move on. I can’t imagine mourning for someone you thought gone and having them come back out of nowhere.”_

_“That reminds me,” said Rhodey, “Have you spoken to May?”_

_“No, not since the funeral. I know Peter wants to see Morgan, and he’s free to do so, but I try to stay out of the city. I work from home now,” said Pepper._

_Rhodey nodded. “Does Morgan like going into the city?”_

_“We’ve been to a few museums and she loves the tall buildings, but she likes her corner of the woods. She loves the lake. Though her favorite place is Tony’s garage.”_

_Rhodey laughed. “Does she like AC/DC too?”_

_“Of course, she does. She’s a Stark.”_

 

After dinner, Rhodey and Pepper were chatting some more. They talked about the Avengers, they talked about the recovery effort. Pepper offered her assistance, both as Rescue, and in her capacity as CEO.

Just before Rhodey was getting ready to head out.

_“I’ll be staying at the compound,” he said. Morgan came over and gave him the picture she had been coloring earlier. It had Iron Man and War Machine flying together._

_Rhodey smiled wistfully. Pepper watched him pull her into a hug while he thanked her._

_When she went back to her room, he turned to Pepper. That little girl had as much love to give as her father had had. It filled her with joy and at the same time, an unending sadness._

_She was sitting on the edge of the sofa, her eyes lined with tears._

_“In Malibu, I kept all his fan art. He used to get so many letters from kids, and often, they’d include drawings, thanking him and the Avengers for saving them or saving their parents. Some of them were specifically for Iron Man. I loved them, all of them, but most of all, the ones directed at him. It reminded me of the why. The reason why he did the things he did._

_Since that day… He’s gotten so many more. I… I can’t read them anymore. I have them go to the office. Someone else sorts through them. I want to read them, but I’m not there yet. They’re thank you letters, and we miss you letters, and the latter are too much for me._

_And now, Morgan writes them. She leaves them on his desk in the study or on his bench in the garage. Maybe she thinks he’ll find them or maybe she thinks I won’t, but I do. When I’m cleaning and organizing, when she’s asleep, or when she’s out with you or Happy. She’s young and she’s coping with the loss of her father, and he’s the biggest superhero there ever was._

_Her therapist told me to let her keep writing them, so I do. Sometimes she shares them with me. She’ll come to me and say, ‘Mommy, I wrote daddy a letter.’ So, I take it and sit down and I read it back to her. It hurts, Rhodey. Her loss isn’t private. Getting those letters from those other kids, I don’t know what that would do to her,” she said, wiping her eyes._

_She leaned forward and sobbed._

_After a few moments, she felt Rhodey pull her into a hug._

_“You’re her hero too,” said Rhodey. “I see what she draws. I see what she hangs up in her room. There are just as many pictures of you, of Rescue.”_

_“Thank you, Rhodey,” she said, pulling away._

_“Will you be alright? Do you want me to stay?”_

_“No, no. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I still have to wash the dishes and get her ready for bed.”_

_“It’s never a bother,” he said, kissing her cheek and grabbing his coat._

She nodded. She knew he was telling the truth.

 

The funeral hadn’t been as hard. All the other days were harder, and this year, Mother’s Day was the hardest.

Tony would go above and beyond, and Pepper loved it. She loved his attention to detail and his generosity. His gifts were always a little weird or unusual, but he gave them much thought and poured so much love into them, that it didn’t matter.

Last year, she woke up to Tony and Morgan playing on the piano. He had started playing more after her birth. It was an easy way to soothe her when she cried. Entranced, she would stop crying long enough to listen to a song before falling asleep.

Sometimes, if it wasn’t too late or she was too rowdy, he would sing to her.

Pepper was a deep-sleeper and so, it was on Tony to handle any midnight misdeeds. In the morning, he would tell her about it.

_I sang her a lullaby and she went back to sleep, so I came back to bed._

For her first Mother’s Day, he presented her with a video.

_I had FRIDAY record all our sessions._

Pepper cried as she watched video after video of her husband and her daughter’s midnight music sessions. As she grew, there was less and less of a need for it. Morgan slept the whole night and she didn’t have night terrors.

Tony had made her a night light that resembled the arc reactor. Not the one he wore, but the original.

One day, she came down and proudly announced she wasn’t scared of the dark. Jokingly, Tony had said she no longer needed the night light, which she had been holding in her hand. Morgan clutched it tighter.

_“But I want to keep it,” she said._

_“Okay,” he said. “You can keep it. For as long as you want. When you don’t need it anymore, you can give it to me.”_

_“Okay, daddy,” she said. She clutched it in her hand all through breakfast, and after, she went back to her room to put it away._

Soon after that, Morgan had asked to learn to play the piano. Tony was seldom as excited as he had been when he heard her say she was ready for lessons. And though she struggled to follow Tony’s movements, her enthusiasm was unparalleled.

_He smiled brightly when he saw Pepper. “Go wish mommy a happy Mother’s Day,” said Tony, excitedly. “It’s her day.”_

I love you _, he mouthed. Beaming._

_“Will you keep telling me about grandma,” asked Morgan. Still sitting on his lap, she faced him. Concern writ large. Tony had been in the middle of a story, and she wanted to hear the end of it._

_“If you say hi to mommy first, then yes,” said Tony as he lowered her._

_“Be nice to mommy. It’s her special day.”_

_Morgan ran off to hug Pepper. “Mommy, daddy was telling me about his mommy. Did you know her?”_

_Pepper picked her up. “No baby, I didn’t.”_

_Morgan looked back at her father._

_Tony smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “She’s not with us anymore. When you’re a little older, we’ll go to her resting place.”_

_Turning back to Pepper, she asked, “Mommy, do you want to sing with us?”_

_“I would love nothing more,” said Pepper, pulling Tony into a kiss._

_“I love hearing daddy sing.” She kissed him again._

_“Mommy’s only saying that because she’s a better singer,” said Tony, moving over so Pepper could join him on the bench._

_Morgan sat on her lap._

_At the end of the song, she turned to Tony. “Mommy should sing more. She sounds so nice.”_

_Tony caressed Pepper’s shoulder, and she leaned into his touch. “I’ve been asking mommy that for a while, but if you ask nicely, she will.”_

_“Will you Mommy?”_

_“Of course, baby. I will sing with you as much as you like.”_

 

Pepper and Morgan held hands as they walked from the car.

“Thank you, Happy. I… I wasn’t sure this was the right call, but she had asked me about her a few days ago, while we were playing, and I thought… I thought it would do her some good. If she’s asking, it’s because she’s ready.

Tony would come here every year. Often alone. He’d argue she was too young, he didn’t want to bring me down on my special day, but in the end, I knew he just wanted to be alone. We’d wait for him at home.”

Morgan walked ahead and then stopped when she noticed Pepper was lagging.

Pepper was holding a bouquet of bright flowers. Red and yellow. Morgan had picked them when they were at the florist.

_“Mommy, mommy… Daddy would like these.”_

Pepper nodded. _He would_.

They entered the mausoleum with Happy following close behind. There was a small bench and on it, Happy set down their things.

Picking her up, Pepper made her way to the first tomb.

“Maria, she loved to sing. She taught daddy all the songs he knew and all the songs he taught you. She taught him to be kind and loving and he taught you.”

She held her close, breathing in her scent. She was warm and alive and in her arms. They would have each other.

The tears were falling but it didn’t matter. She knew what she needed to say and what Morgan needed to her and she would tell her, through her tears.

“Daddy loved her very much and he always wished he could see her again, but now he can. Now they can play together.”

She paused, giving herself room to breathe. Morgan pet her hair and Pepper held her even closer.

“Mommy,” said Morgan, concerned coloring her voice.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s a lot for me, but I need to tell you this.”

“Okay mommy,” she said, pulling away to wipe her tears.

“We’re here because daddy would’ve wanted to bring you here and tell you about grandma, but we’re also here because I miss your daddy,” she said, sobbing.

“I miss him so much, Morgan. I wish he were here with us. I wish he were the one telling you about her.”

Happy came up behind Morgan. She reached for him and he let her down. She was a little taller now and weighed a little more and Pepper was glad for the reprieve.

Morgan walked over to the bench, to where the flowers were. She sat with them in her lap and waited for her mother to turn her attention to her.

Pepper hugged Happy. She was glad he had agreed to bring them over, knowing she could’ve handled it alone, but wanting someone with her.

“I know it’s not the same,” he said, “but I miss him too.”

She nodded and turned to Morgan. “You’ve brought some flowers. Let’s put them down.”

Pepper and Morgan lay the flowers to rest at the foot of the grave. Morgan touched the engraved letters and Pepper fought back more tears.

_This. This part. It would always hurt._

“It was always you,” she said, softly. She had heard the recording so many times. She knew it by heart. She knew, that when staring into the abyss, all he could think of was her.

All those years ago, she had told him he was all she had, but now… Now, she had Morgan.

“Mommy, I brought something else. Something for daddy,” said Morgan.

“That’s right. What did you bring?” She was unsure of what Morgan could’ve wanted to bring.

Morgan pulled out the night light Tony had made, the one he had told her she could keep for as long as she wanted, for as long as it brought her comfort.

“Daddy might need this, mommy,” she said. Tears filling her eyes. “It must be dark where he is.”

Morgan placed it on the ground and crawled into her mother’s lap.

“Oh, Morgan,” she said, holding her close. She didn’t know what else to add. It was touching. Morgan thinking of his needs, Morgan wishing to make things easier for him.

She thought of all the letters she had written. She thought of all the drawings. She thought of how much she had clutched that night light the day she’d proudly proclaimed she wasn’t afraid of the dark. She was brilliant and growing right before her eyes.

Her daughter was just as heroic as her father.

She had told Tony the truth. He could rest. They would be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> I had written something earlier, which you can read on [Tumblr](https://viudanegraaa.tumblr.com/post/184828858606/are-you-ready-sweetie-yes-mommy-can-i-bring), but I thought it incomplete, so I expanded it.


End file.
